Vanessa Lain Photography

Having Vanessa as our official photographer was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding this past September. If photography is an important aspect of the wedding and you make room for it in your budget, you won’t be disappointed with your decision to book Vanessa. She was easy to communicate with via email but also met with me in person to look at her portfolio in albums and discuss details. I liked her style of photography — natural, with an eye for angles, light, and composition (not the stiffly posed, overblown, overly edited style I was avoiding). I really appreciated her warm and professional demeanor and thoughtful suggestions. She not only helped us think of where to take our engagement photos (a local farm) but also called the owners to set up the shoot, ending the night with a race to catch the last rays of sunset at a spot she’d scoped out. On the wedding day at a venue in Austin, TX, she and her second shooter were meticulous with photos of us, our wedding party, family, details, and special moments. She edited and gave us even more photos than I’d expected — more than any other photographer’s package I’d considered. She offered an online gallery with the option to download (great for family and friends), a flash drive of all of our edited engagement and wedding photos, and we opted for an album, which was ready quickly, once we finished giving input on the online draft she shared with us. I also appreciated her letting us know that she enjoyed working with us. I can’t recommend her enough!

We found Vanessa through a recommendation from another photographer. We communicated to other photographers what our budget was and the style we were looking for and Vanessa was a perfect match for what we needed. She was prompt in providing options (packages) and very flexible with working with our needs (specific budget and time frame). When we saw just 2 of the pictures she took of us on our wedding day (via Instagram) we were already very pleased with what she had captured! And were excited to see the rest, of course. She has a very calm, yet assertive way about her that made this part of the wedding planning easy. Our wedding was very much so a DIY affair on a budget and I was nervous that our pictures would look like it was DIY, but they are amazing. She captured details that we worked hard on, she created memorable moments for us in the images by simply having us take the time to look at each other and hold each other a certain way on the day-​of. She truly takes pride in her work and is incredibly professional. We can’t speak highly enough of Vanessa!

Vanessa Lain Torres is the best! After we had chosen our wedding venue (Sesnon House, Aptos, CA), we learned that Vanessa had been generous enough to leave a photography portfolio there, and we loved what we saw. We got together with Vanessa and she took time to get to know us personally. From the moment we met her, we knew we were in great hands. She is a great communicator, verbally as well as in emails and the written contract. She sent us a questionnaire that was thorough but streamlined and easy to fill out, even in the busy few weeks before our wedding. She’s very professional, responsive, and reliable. We respect her creative skill and appreciate her easygoing, warm, open personality.
Vanessa captured the most magical moments of our wedding. Her work conveyed the beauty and reverence of the ceremony as well as the joy of our overall celebration. She and her photography partner were practically invisible at the wedding, yet they caught all the important aspects of the day with skill and finesse. They honed in on details like our holding of hands, the table decorations, and our wedding attire to show the timeless magic that we felt that day. They had a way of evoking the wonderful feelings of our wedding so we’ll be able to relive them again and again. We are especially grateful to Vanessa for working with us to create a wedding album as a keepsake — she created a lovely «draft» and has been very flexible in allowing us to fine-​tune it as we wish.
We highly recommend Vanessa as a photographer for weddings and other wonderful milestone events!

Vanessa was the perfect fit for us from day one. We loved the low-​key initial meeting, and her attitude regarding the importance of candid shots resonated with us. Vanessa even visited our site, at no additional charge, to get a feel for where the big event would be taking place.
On our wedding day, Vanessa was thorough but patient. Her excitement for the photos helped my wife and I remember how momentous this occasion was. She also remained calm and flexible when the schedule got a little off-​track. Vanessa was extremely present and also totally out-​of-​our faces during the entire day.
And we were nothing but THRILLED when the photos arrived! Absolutely gorgeous. We consider hiring Vanessa one of our best wedding vendor decisions.

I am just thrilled with the results of my photo shoot with Vanessa! She helped me to feel at ease in front of the camera, which isn’t always an easy thing to do. From the first take to receiving the final product in the mail, Vanessa and Now Fly Away pay attention to detail. I would recommend her in a heart beat.

Vanessa did our Engagement photos in Oakland, CA, and our wedding photos in Aptos, CA. Our photos were totally fantastic, and she was so easy to work with — I highly, highly recommend booking her!
She was by far the best vendor that we worked with over the course of our wedding. She was always quick to respond, followed up without me having to hound her (a major stress for me during the wedding planning was following up repeatedly with other vendors — Vanessa never made me do that — it was quite the opposite). On top of bring very professional, she was always so sweet and positive throughout both sessions. I don’t really like my photo being taken, but after about 30 minutes with her in the engagement session, I felt very comfortable, and during the wedding I was completely relaxed around her and her assistant. She actually made the wedding more fun, because she was so positive and had such a firm handle on what photos needed to be taken when and where.
We got the wedding photos back a few weeks ago and they look fantastic! They were exactly what we were hoping for. They are just completely classic — there were no crazy effects, which we told her we did not want. She very much respected our requests, and followed the guidelines that we wrote down for her beforehand, to the letter. She sent us a really helpful worksheet to complete before the wedding, bringing up issues I would never have thought of, including some complicated family dynamics that we have :) (two sets of divorced parents here…). Unlike some of our other vendors, she really knew and followed our answers to that worksheet. It took time to think out our responses, and I really appreciated that she honored them.
And of course I must add that her rates were really reasonable, especially for the Bay Area — I’m sure that will change soon!
Thank you Vanessa for doing such an amazing job throughout the entire wedding experience — you really helped make our day more fun, enjoyable and memorable!

Vanessa has done both our wedding and our maternity pictures and both turned out amazing. She is so good at capturing candid moments, chemistry, lighting, and more. She is so easy to work with and so friendly and warm. Most of all, very talented and thorough!